Republic of Cascadia
Republic of Cascadia = The Republic of Cascadia The Republic of Cascadia is a nation in North America comprised of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Western Idaho, Western Montana, and the southern portion of the Canadian province of British Columbia and southwestern Alberta. History The Republic of Cascadia was founded in 1974, during the collapse of the United States of America. Unlike many other nations becoming independent during this time, Cascadia was not founded through violence, but instead through legislature and the Salem Accords, which granted the nation independence. Founding In the 1960s and 1970s, the U.S. was going through massive unrest. This reached a tipping point in 1970, when riots broke out across the nation over the growing instability and hostility towards separatism. President Richard Nixon authorized Executive order 11617, basically making separatist demonstrations near illegal. This thus angered separatists even further, and in 1972, multiple groups began armed conflicts. Leader of the Cascadian Liberation Party Harold Mantow advocated for peace and stability during this time, and managed to make an agreement with U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew to create an independent Cascadian State. Salem Accords The Salem Accords were signed in a meeting in Salem on November 3rd, 1974, between Cascadia (represented by Harold Mantow, Neil Jacob Stevenson would later become the Cascadian Ambassador to Canada and Rachel Burton) and the United States of America (represented by Tim Scharr and Mason L. Kingstone). Mantow had already made it clear that he would not accept anything short of independence, or at least autonomy. To the surprise of everyone, the United States agreed that they would allow Cascadian Independence, under the conditions that there would be open transport and trade between the two nations, and that the United States military could use their land and airspace. Mantow agreed. Thus, the main purpose of the accords were to: -Find an agreeable border between the two nations -Decide the nation's status and, on another topic -Clean up the situation in California, which was currently in divide Many proposals were made for the border, including: -The Burton Plan (which would extend Cascadia east to the Continental Divide area north of the 42nd parallel, with the southern border being at the 42nd parallel) -The Scharr Proposal (based off a pre-existing base by Tim Scharr, would include all of Washington State, all of Oregon except Harney and Lake counties, all of Idaho except the counties of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Bonneville, Caribou, Cassia, Franklin, Jerome, Power, Oneida and Twin Falls, and the Montanan counties of Beaverhead, Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli and Sanders.) -The Ecological Union (The original vision of Harold Mantow, which was comprised of the Cascadia ecoregion zone) The Scharr Proposal was selected, and the independence date was set for November 18th. The Salem Accords also imposed a set of economic and trade laws on Cascadia, which were criticized by the second and last Head of State of the Republic of Cascadia Pat Polway (Nov. 18, 1980- Nov. 18, 1989) as "a sad and useless attempt by the U.S.A. to cling onto its former lands, at least in some way". Harold Mantow disagreed, instead pointing out its positive effect on the nation, which allowed Cascadia's GDP to grow for decades. Early Development * After independence, the Republic of Cascadia attempted to cement its influence over the northwestern area. It had multiple clashes with groups like the Big Sky Syndicate in Montana, the August Syndicate in Oregon and California, and the N.P.A. (National Preservation Army) around the nation and surrounding areas, a pro-American violent group which also existed across the rest of former American territory. The largest of these occurred in 1978 with the Big Sky Syndicate, which lasted for 4 months, caused around 140 casualties, and was a large blow on the Cascadian economy and morale, and the war ended in stalemate, with each side taking their occupied territory. Technically, the Big Sky Syndicate was not an independent nation, but Montana, North Dakota, and Nevada, although still officially being U.S. territory, was essentially lawless. These areas were mostly reoccupied (however, by other nations) by 1985. In 1979, California became two independent states, the Northern Californian Republic and the Californian Confederation. It was a messy situation, with messier borders, and the Republic of Cascadia had a large part in rebuilding northern California with the Three Year Plan. Originally, the Cascadian economy was not strong. There was a 7-year agreement with the United States of America that Cascadia would continue to use the U.S. dollar under the agreement expired, but the dollar was rapidly devalued and/or inflated (up to the point that $100 on January 1, 1965 was equal to $978.27 on November 22, 1981, when Cascadia switched) and just four days after the agreement ended the Cascadian Dollar (☐) was opened into circulation. The Cascadian dollar's original exchange rate was ☐1 to $4.33, however it began to gain value rapidly. The Cascadian economy was also initially fairly strong, with a per person GDP similar to South Korea's was. During the first month of independence, there were 23 noted internal violent groups in the nation. By the end of Harold Mantow's leadership in 1983, that number had dropped to 7. There were four internal conflicts also fought from 1974 until 1983- * The Battle of Seattle- The Battle of Seattle, as it was dubbed by the media, was an operation to eradicate the groups F4 and Reddan from Washington State. F4 and Reddan were mostly populated by far-right, sometimes Nazi members who sometimes did demonstrations, but then started performing 1930s KKK-level acts- with an F4 member eventually even killing two black men in the city of Bellevue in 1979. The groups were denounced across the country, and police and military were deployed to help destroy F4 hideouts and gathering locations. 46 members of F4 were imprisoned between 1979 and 1981. Their only ally during this period was Reddan, the leaders of which contiunally affirmed their friendship with F4. The Governor of the Tacoma Region where both groups were based declared that a hunt to eradicate Reddan from the region was also in effect. A further 28 Reddan members were imprisoned during this period. Eventually, both groups were declared dissolved in 1982, and the hunt officially ended the following year. *